Re: GS Monitor keeps getting brighter

["Warren 'Llama' Ernst" <wernst@gmail.com>]

On Aug 13, 4:44 am, Steven Hirsch <snhir...@gmail.com> wrote:
> mdj wrote:
> > My worst experience comes from helping a friend replace a hard drive
> > in an older AT style PC. The shoddy assemblers had put the switch
> > assembly together without including the rubber sheaths over the spade
> > connectors. Trust me, you do not want to be a part of the conductive
> > path between an active pin and the ground :-(
>
> Heh.  One of the most potentially lethal units out there is a Fender Twin
> guitar amplifier.  B+ supply is 675v at about 1/4 amp.  Power supply filtering
> is handled by a row of axial-lead electrolytic caps soldered to a circuit
> board in a can on top of the chassis.  As shipped, a bleeder resistor is the
> end component on the board and, when working, it drains things down very
> quickly after power-off.  Problem was, they didn't use any glue or silicone
> rubber to cushion the resistor on early units and vibration invariably cracked
> off one or both of the leads.
>
> After getting nailed with that baby once (and fortunately living to tell about
> it) I got in the habit of shorting the output tube plate pin to ground with an
> insulated screwdriver before delving in :-).  Lost all feeling in my right arm
> for about 10 minutes after the initial event.
>
> Steve

Discharging a CRT it not that difficult a skill to learn (you pick it
up when you own and repair vintage arcade games):

Wearing rubber gloves (just in case - this probably isn't really even
necessary), I take a length of cut extension cord with alligator clips
soldered on each end, and clip one end to the exposed metal on the
monitor chassis, and the other to a long flat-bladed screwdriver. With
the monitor off, unplugged, and opened up, you stick the flat part of
the screwdriver underneath the "suction cup with a cable" that's
attached to the top tube until it touches the central metal core.

If the monitor has been on recently, you'll hear a "pop." Then I wait
5 minutes and do it again.

Looking for a photo, I found a quick website that documents the
process much better, and with photos:
http://www.instantarcade.com/discharge.php

They sell "Cap Kits" for old arcade monitors, and you'd be amazing how
an old broken monitor can sometimes look as good as new after just
replacing the caps. It's basically just a baggie of 20 capacitors of
various sizes and ratings, along with a sheet of paper that says what
caps go where. You just disconnect the various PCB boards, clip off
the old cap leads, desolder the cap leads and the solder in the new
cap. Repeat 20 times.

This is child's play for any TV technician, so if you don't want to
bother, seek out a TV repair shop that's filled with old glass-tube
CRT TVs and describe what's happening and suggest a Cap Kit. They'll
probably be done with it in 3 days.

-Warr